Full Blown Rose
by OneShotWonderment
Summary: Angry at the world, Jenna Marshall goes to the person, other than her stepbrother, she ever felt she could confide in and the one person who betrayed her most. Spoilers for Episode 07.


**Title:** Full Blown Rose  
**Fandom:** Pretty Little Liars  
**Pairing:** Toby/Jenna  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warnings:** Ummm...stepcest?

**Beta Reader:** vampirexmusic_passion

**Spoilers:** for episode 1x07

**Word count:** 5,650

**Summary:**

Angry at the world, Jenna Marshall goes to the person, other than her stepbrother, she ever felt she could confide in and the one person who betrayed her most.

**Disclaimer:** _All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of OneShotWonderment. OneShotWonderment is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

**Notes: **This story diverts from canon about midway through episode 07, "The Homecoming Hangover". It starts right when Emily sees Jenna crying on the steps.

* * *

Jenna Marshall couldn't breathe; tears poured from unseeing eyes without pause and frantic hands tugged at her dress to keep from causing herself injury. There was a flurry of activity around her, there had been all morning, but it sounded like nothing compared to the rushing in the sixteen-year-old's ears.

It should've been her. It should have been Jenna at homecoming with Toby. None of this would have happened if they had gone together. She wouldn't have run from him as such she never would have needed to go to the hospital and Toby never would have wrecked his motorcycle. Jenna's fists clenched even harder into the black fabric; she wanted to blame Emily Fields. She wanted to scream, curse, and punch the other girl until the hole in her chest went away, but it wasn't Emily's fault. It was hers…and Alison's, a little.

Determined, Jenna stood and clicked her stick position. She climbed down the front steps of her house quicker then she normally would have and once her feet hit the sidewalk, she left. Their parents wouldn't notice. Lily was too distraught with the loss of her boy and Jenna's father was too busy caring for Lily. Jenna was glad for it; she didn't have to answer any questions if there was no one to ask them.

Walking had a surprisingly calming effect on Jenna; the rhythm of counting her steps gave her something, besides the hole where her heart used to be, to focus on.

1…2…3…4…5 …She matched her breathing pattern to her footsteps.

6…7…8…9…10…She ignored the burn of tears and pressed on.

11…12…13…14…15… She pressed the button and waited until she heard the screeching of tires on asphalt to cross the street.

16…17…18…19…20… The scent was unmistakable as she entered the cemetery: the scent of disturbed ground and sadness.

21…22….23…24…25…A too vivid memory of standing around the freshly dug grave listening as Alison's coffin was lowered in and wishing it was Toby standing by her side and not her state hired aid assaulted Jenna as she moved further and further down the aisles of the dead.

26…27…28…29….30…Her sensitive fingers gently traced the letters. Alison DiLaurentis inscribed in font as beautiful as Alison had been, Jenna was sure. Beloved daughter, beloved friend….of course.

Jenna sat down slowly next to her confidant's headstone and curled her legs under her body. Her black cotton dress flowed out around her in a waterfall of dark tears that she herself refused to shed.

"Why, Alison? Why did I tell you everything? Why did Toby listen to you? Why did we all listen to you?" She paused, her breathing ragged against the cool granite of Alison's headstone. Her shoulders shook with the force of silent sobs as she shut unseeing eyes against the reality she would soon have to own up to.

"We all told you our secrets, didn't we? The fabulous four and I. You used them all against us. Everything we shared you used for your own purposes. It was never ever about us; everything every single fucking thing was about you, the Amazing Alison."

Jenna knew as the words poured out of her mouth that she shouldn't say them. It was wrong to say bad things about the dead and Alison hadn't been all-bad. Alison had been there when Jenna had needed a friend most, but Jenna needed some outlet. She needed someone to blame. It had to be someone's fault that Toby was dead. It had to be…

_Jenna sighed in frustration as the fifth nurse in an hour departed the hospital room. How many times could they possibly need to take her blood? She was blind. That was it! That was all! No amount of tests or ice chips was going to change that. She turned onto her side away from the door. Maybe if she got some sleep….maybe when she woke it would all be some horrible nightmare. She'd wake up crying and go to Toby's room through their adjoining bathroom; he would calm her and rock her until she fell back into a sweeter sleep. _

_She cuddled deeper into the stiff cotton hospital pillow and teared up when the door opened a while later and she woke to a darken world. The click of heels on the sterile linoleum floor was a definite change from the soft patter of nurses' shoes. Jenna willed the intruder away; she just wanted to be alone. The steps came closer and the hospitalized teen curled further into herself. Go away…Go away…Go away…_

_As the heels took yet another step closer, Jenna decided to make her request known outside of her head. She reached out into her own darkness and grabbed the soft covered bible off the side table. "Go away!" She shouted as she threw the bible at her unknown visitor. The sound of the bible hitting the wall told Jenna that she missed her target, but she couldn't really bring herself to mind. She thought she had still made her point pretty well._

_"Well, hello to you too." The voice was familiar but only vaguely. Jenna pulled herself into a sitting position and slipped her sunglasses onto position. She'd heard the gasps of the young nurses as they entered her private room after they heard the tale of her accident. Her eyes were hideous, they frightened people._

_"Umm…hi." There was a hesitation as the girl in the heels took up the vacant seat beside the hospital bed._

_"It's Alison." Silence followed that particular declaration. Jenna only knew one Alison; Alison DiLaurentis. Why would she be visiting her in the hospital? In all the years that the two had been going to school together Jenna could recall only one time that Alison spoke to her…and that was to nickname her Jenna the Joke. The blonde had claimed that Jenna's "attempts" at dressing herself stylishly had to be a joke because there was no anyone had a sense of style that screwed up. Her facial expression must have given her away because in the next second Alison was explaining, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."_

_"Not really," Jenna replied her voice thick with sarcasm as she waved her hand in front of covered eyes. She wasn't entirely sure she'd ever be okay again. The police had already come around and asked their questions. She had lied. Jenna wanted justice…or, at the very least, to the identity of the person who did this, but she couldn't risk it. She had said that she couldn't remember anything. It was the only way she could keep anyone from asking what she was doing in the garage. The simplest lie was the easiest._

_"No," Alison's voice was quiet then; almost weak. "I didn't figure you would be." Silence fell over the room again. Jenna could feel it building in the air; she could feel that Alison was here for a purpose more important than checking up on her. She was patient; she would wait it out. It did not take long._

_"I went to the ice cream store after dinner and I walked past your house."_

_Jenna nodded vaguely. The ice cream pallor was two blocks down from her new home. Toby had treated her to a milkshake just yesterday in celebration of her A on the first English test of ninth grade. It had felt almost like old times; part of her ached for their loss while the other part reveled in the increased closeness of their situation. It was all very confusing and Jenna did her best not to dwell on the muddle of emotions as best she could._

_"I thought…I heard something odd and I looked in the garage."_

_The brunette froze in her hospital bed. The garage was their place. They could be just Toby & Jenna in there; no labels to make things difficult. In the garage, Toby and Jenna were just two young adults in love. It was also in the garage that they made love…not too often, of course, and tonight had been one of those nights. It was the three-year anniversary of when they met. They had been celebrating._

_"Jenna," Alison started and Jenna waited for the flow of condemnation to start. She'd spent the last year preparing for the day someone discovered that she and her stepbrother were more than that. "Jenna, if you're scared of him, you shouldn't be. There are things the police can do to protect you. You just have to tell them what Toby did."_

_"What Toby did?" Her words trickled out slowly as her brain fought to understand these events. This wasn't how she ever in a million years imagined this conversation would go. _

_"They can protect you, Jenna. Toby should never have forced himself on you."_

_"Forced himself on-?" Jenna paused as the meaning behind Alison's words finally clicked. "You think Toby raped me?" She hadn't meant it to come out as question, but she couldn't believe the turn of events. All the scenarios she envisioned, all the angry retorts, harsh words, and snickering, hadn't prepared her for this. It had never even occurred to her that someone could see Toby as such a monster._

_Toby was the kindest, sweetest, most caring guy Jenna had ever met. Sure, he was a little over-protective at times and yes he had a jealousy streak in him (not that he had much to be jealous of), but Toby could never hurt a fly much less a person. Much less Jenna. Toby would sacrifice his every possession then see Jenna cry. Hurting her, in any way, was just out of the cards._

_"Didn't he?"_

_"No!" The shout echoed a little bit around the room and both girls paused to see if it attracted any unwanted attention from hospital staff._

_"Then what?" Alison asked scooting her chair a few inches closer to the bed. Jenna took a deep breath and prepared herself to tell the one she never thought she'd share. _

"_It wasn't as if we decided to be morally gray," Jenna defended helplessly against the accusation hidden in Alison's words. "It started as any grade school relationship does. I was failing seventh grade English and my teacher suggested I sign up for the school's tutoring program. I did and got Toby as my partner. He was different from what I expected when I was told my tutor would be an eighth grader. He was sweet and funny in a different sort of way; he saw me for me. Most guys in Rosewood hold out. You and your friends are grade school perfection; I'm just me…or rather I was just me. Now, I'm just 'that poor blind girl'. None of that was important, you know? Toby liked me and we would do our tutoring thing and then hang out. It was wonderful." Her voice was wistful and distant. What did that matter though? Her memories were all she had now. Toby would move on. He would find another girl; a better girl. A whole girl. She didn't begrudge him the happy life he'd have now._

"_At first, we were just friends, but then. Then we fell in love and life got even better. It felt like the movies, Alison, it really did."_

_"What changed?_

_"Our parents." Jenna answered simply. "My dad….let's just says he wasn't Toby's biggest fan. At first, I thought his disgruntled agreement to allow Toby over to work on my English homework was my dad being dad-like and over protective. I'm his only daughter and maybe my dad saw in my actions before and while Toby was over that I had a major crush. I decided not to tell him when Toby and I started dating; if he didn't like Toby when he was just my friend what hope did we have that he would like him as my boyfriend."_

_The brunette paused, taking another deep breath. This was the part of the story where they overestimated their ability to control the situation. They were just kids then in reality, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into with their oh-so-brilliant plan. If Jenna had the ability to time travel, she would undo what they'd done._

_"We figured that maybe my dad needed to hear more than my opinion on Toby. So at the mid-semester parent-teacher conference night in my seventh grade year we made sure that my dad ran into Toby's mom. We stayed long enough to make sure they were talking and then we ditched. Our plan was a success. My dad was better towards Toby after that, but we still held off on telling him. After all, dad was cordial, but there was always the chance he'd turn mean again at the news and pull his shotgun on Toby. It wasn't until about two weeks later that we found out our parents were dating each other."_

_"Ew. Awkward much?"_

"_A little, at first," Jenna replied slowly. It was weird to tell this story and even weirder to tell it to Alison DiLaurentis. This girl was not a friend... Alison was the queen bee; she'd probably twist Jenna's words and use them against her, but Jenna couldn't bring herself to care. Alison knew a little, but had interoperated the situation wrong. Jenna needed to set the record straight. Jenna needed someone else to know their true story. _

"_But then we saw a silver lining to it. Toby's mom could convince my dad that Toby was a good person. Plus, it often meant we had two empty houses to ourselves." A small smile slipped onto her face as she remembered all the wonderful moments she and Toby had had while their parents were out. Soft slow kisses on the sofa with the dialogue on the television as background noise. Playing boards games and getting too distracted by Toby to finish them. Her favorite memory was the romantic dinner Toby made her. He'd apparently worked on it all day while his mother was at the spa preparing for her date. It was so romantic and sweet that fourteen-year-old Jenna had felt like a princess. That was the last untainted memory she had of her and Toby._

"_Didn't you two consider that your parents might fall in love?"_

"_We did think about it, but quickly dismissed the idea. Toby's mother still cried herself to sleep at night over the loss of her former husband and my dad still firmly held onto the belief my mother was just going to return one day with some crazy story that made it perfectly acceptable to abandon your husband and three-year-old daughter."_

"_But then they did fall in love. It happened so fast. Toby and I were just sitting on the couch basking in the glow of a wonderful dinner and each other and suddenly in breeze Toby's mother, Lily and my dad. The second they came into view, Alison, my world fell out from under me. They were giggling like mad and draped around each other. Lily was wearing a cheap white dress and my dad was in a borrowed tuxedo. They'd gotten married after seven too many cocktails."_

_Jenna's hands trembled beside her in the white cotton of the hospital bedding. She jumped slightly when she felt Alison's left hand slip over her right hand. The young Marshall had never thought of Alison as someone who felt empathy for others; that was not to say that she thought of Alison as cold she just assumed the blonde was the type of person to fix things for other people instead of participating in pity parties. Jenna turned her hand in Alison's and clutched the other girl's fingers gratefully. Maybe she was wrong about Alison…_

"_That night, after our parents stumbled up drunkenly to bed, was our first time together. We went out to the garage, a place close enough to our lives but far away from our new reality, and made love. It wasn't what either of us imagined, I'm sure, but it was perfect. We had waited too long and we were no longer right as far as the rest of the world knew, but by then we were too much in love to just give up because our parents got drunk."_

"_You thought they wouldn't last." It wasn't a question._

"_They were drunk and had only known each other a few months. I was sure they'd get up the next morning and getting an annulment."_

"_They didn't."_

"_No. My father figured if he married Lily drunk then there had to be something about her. Toby and I tried to reason with them, but it turns out that falling in love hard and fast is in our genetics."_

_Jenna fell silent then. The rest of the story was easy to puzzle together. Their parents were in love but so were they. Jenna and Toby couldn't bring themselves to be selfless. Why should their love have to be sacrificed just because their parents were in love too? If there was thing Jenna really learned from her situation, it was that life wasn't fair._

_"So your parents…"_

_"They don't know."_

_"Someone else is going to find out." Jenna yanked her hand out from Alison's horrified and turned away. She revealed her deepest secret to this girl and now she was going to tell? Jenna should have listened to her gut instinct. Alison was the queen bee everything she did __benefited_ _herself. No one else mattered._

_"If I can stumble upon it then someone else can too, Jenna." Alison reasoned. "When that happens you'll need to choose a story."_

_Jenna turned back slowly. "What do you mean?"_

_"I mean, people are either going to jump to the conclusion I did that Toby was hurting you or…" _

_"Or what?"_

_"People will see you as the temptress; the slut." Alison's voice held the tone of disgust that Jenna assumed people with that opinion would have. She braced herself against that. She didn't care what people thought; she knew what she and Toby had together. "You'll be either 'that poor Jenna Marshall' or 'Jenna Marshall, whore for her stepbrother'."_

_"I'll just tell them the truth." Jenna decided after a brief pause. "People will understand it."_

_Alison got frustrated. Jenna could tell by the angry scrape of the other girl's chair and the tight grip on her hands once Alison grabbed them. "No one will listen. People are set in their ways. Once an opinion is formed it is very hard to change."_

_Alison dropped Jenna's hands and stood making her way to the door. Just before she left she turned back to the brunette and said, "You'll need to make a choice before society makes it for you: victim or whore?"_

It wasn't until almost an hour later Jenna realized two things: Alison's house was closer to the ice cream pallor then Jenna's and as such she would have had to pass Jenna's house to get there and that if Alison was truly by Jenna's house after dinner then she must have seen who did this to Jenna. She'd tried to get Alison to come back by the time she convinced the nurse to help her make the call Alison was back to pretending Jenna didn't exist.

Jenna waited days for Toby to visit so she could tell him everything that she and Alison had discussed, but he never came. Lily and her dad had been oddly silent on the topic of her love and often diverted the discussion whenever Jenna asked after him. Finally, after about a week, a kindly nurse brought her a copy of the newspaper and read it to her.

Toby had taken the blame for the fire in their garage. Alison had gotten to him; Jenna decided and knew that it was true. But what did she have on him that would make him do that? Jenna fought like hell to get released; she needed to talk to Toby and get this all sorted, but the doctors were insistent that she stay and complete all their tests and therapies to make certain the explosion and resulting fire hadn't damaged more than her eyesight.

Toby had been sentenced to five months in some reform school far away by the time the doctors saw fit to release her. Jenna had tried to convince her father she needed to see Toby, but he wouldn't allow it. He claimed he had always known Toby was bad news and Lily stood numbly beside him. Lily's silence had pissed Jenna off; Toby was her son and she wasn't defending him against the accusations of Jenna's father.

Fed up with life, Jenna fled Rosewood at the first chance she got. She didn't want to be in a town filled with happy memories if Toby couldn't be with her. It was just a plus that it got her away from the whispers of "poor Jenna Marshall". Madame Houston's School for the Blind had been interesting and certainly helpful in adapting to the new path of her life but she missed Toby dearly. She wrote him three times a week, but she stopped sending them after the first week when they were returned to her. Apparently, he wasn't allowed correspondence with the outside world.

Jenna began to work furiously toward completing her prom at Madame Houston's School for the Blind. She was determined that she would return to Rosewood at the same time as Toby. They would fight the whispers and accusations together. It was hard work completing a course of study that normally took a minimum of a year in under five months time, but Jenna did it. She came out of that summer with a through grasp on how to make it in the world without her sight.

Her hard work paid off, though a little quicker then she had aimed for, and Jenna returned to Rosewood a week before Toby; the week Alison's body was discovered. The funeral had been hard to take because no matter what Alison did or said to Toby Alison had been Jenna's only other confidant. She'd listened to their tale with minimal interruption and without condemnation on her part. Jenna had needed that for the longest time and Alison had granted her a precious gift that day that could never be repaid.

Jenna shook herself from her memories and focused on the present. Toby was dead; Alison was dead and Jenna was lost. She needed to talk to someone, someone who knew, and she was so desperate for that now that she settled for talking to Alison's headstone. Maybe wherever Alison was, she would be able to hear Jenna.

"You took him away, Alison. Whatever you said to him took him away from me for five months and when he came back…" Jenna choked on tears. Toby had treated so clinical, so coldly, she would have believed that she made up all that they had been through if she didn't know any better. "It was like he didn't love me anymore."

She fingered the charmed bracelet on her right wrist. It had been a present from Toby; something to remind her that he loved her. He'd given her the silver chain bracelet on her fourteenth birthday. The rose seed charm came next on the night of their first time together. She'd seen this as a sort of promise that no matter what happened with their parents she would always be his love. The un-bloomed rose bud charm she woke one morning in the hospital to find it dangling there. She had a sneaking suspicion that the kind nurse who would later read her paper had put it there. That nurse probably took one look at Toby's beautiful eyes and caved. Jenna had firsthand experience in how difficult it was to resist his puppy dog look. She had, in her five months away, wondered what special occasion or reason Toby was saving the final full bloom rose charm. Jenna would never know now.

"He was aloof toward me. He only spoke to me if I spoke to him first and he avoided me at all costs. The only time I was allowed to touch him was when he walked to my classes. It hurt, badly, but I had predicted it back when I was in the hospital. The hardest thing to handle, though? He took your friend, Emily, to Homecoming. He was moving on and I was still stuck in the past."

Jenna yawned and laid her cheek to rest on the cold stone next to her. The sun had set fifteen minutes ago, but the brunette couldn't find the strength to care that night was descending. She couldn't bear the thought of going home and she had nowhere else to go.

"Now, he's gone and we'll never get the happy ending we deserve."

Jenna just sat beside Alison well into the night. She became the perfect imitation of a living corpse. She fought against sleep terrified of what she would find there. Eventually the stress of the day caught up to her and she drifted off to the world of her imagination.

She supposed, as sleep claimed her, that it should frighten her to be defenseless in Rosewood now. There was after all a murder among them, but she wasn't afraid. Jenna didn't care if whoever murder Alison found and killed her too. Was that the true meaning of the phrase "death wish"?

* * *

The warmth of the sunlight woke Jenna Marshall in the early hours of the morning. Slowly she adjusted her position expecting to feel dew grass blades under one hand and cool stone under the other instead she found soft sheets. The air smelled of cheap cigars and sweat; this was a smell Jenna. It was the smell of home.

But how?

Last thing she remembered was being in the graveyard and talking to Alison. She had no recollection of getting up and walking home or, for that matter, moving at all. Had her father tore himself away from Lily to find her? Jenna hadn't thought that anyone would even notice she wasn't there. Both and Lily weren't very observant, after all. Sighing, Jenna slid out of from under her bed covers and hit the voice button on her alarm clock.

"6:45 AM." The loud voice reported. It was constitutional unfair for the universe to expect her to be awake this early after the day she'd had yesterday and on a weekend, no less. There was nothing to be done though she was already too awake to try to sleep once more. Shadow nuzzled his hand into her open palm as she reached for her slippers to make aware that he was awake. She abandoned her pursuit for her slippers in order to grab his vest.

"Hey boy," She soothed petting his head calmly before slipping on the vest onto his torso. Shadow responded as expected by sitting back on his hunches and waiting patiently for his master's next command. Jenna slipped her slippers onto her feet once she found them and stood up. The slight whoosh of fabric descending meant that she was still wearing the long black dress she had put on yesterday.

"Glasses, Shadow."She raised her left hand to her face and tapped the bridge of her nose. Shadow moved as certain as he always did when following her orders and Jenna marveled at his ability to do his job. Shadow blocked out all his natural instincts as dog when his vest was on. A stray cat didn't sway his attention nor did the occasional child trying to pet him while he was walking Jenna. The blind girl wished she had that ability. She wanted to be able to block out all the pain and live life without it. It would certainly help her now. She still felt like the pain in heart was going to swallow her whole if she breathed too deeply or focused too hard.

Shadow yipped lightly to rouse her from her sleep-like state gently. She reached down with her right hand and picked her sunglasses up off Shadow's snout. The tinted glasses made a slight sound as it met with the charms of Jenna's bracelet. She wore her glasses inside the house mainly because of her father. Her green eyes had been a constant but happy reminder of the first love of his life. Now they just reminded him of all the heartbreak he had felt until he met Lily. Jenna loved her dad and so she covered her unseeing eyes for him every day.

Jenna took the stairs slowly; she had always been a bit clumsy on stairs and her blindness hadn't exactly helped that situation out any. Shadow clambered down them just a half step away from her; always prepared to save her from herself just like Toby had been. As dog and master reached the bottom of the staircase, Jenna grabbed a hold of the harness straps of Shadow's jacket and let him lead her mindlessly to the kitchen.

Toby. Toby was still gone. Everything in the house felt different as she crept past into the kitchen. Everything felt void in the light of the new day; why was the world still turning? Jenna's certainly wasn't. Jenna felt suddenly woozy and the tiled floor of kitchen was suddenly willing to accommodate her as it rushed up to meet her. Shadow gave a loud yelp and used his body weight to push her back into the kitchen island. She slid safely down the side and landed on her butt. The sense of instability didn't dissipate for the brunette though as she drew her knees to her chest and laid her head upon them.

Panic attacks were nothing new for the sixteen-year-old. They'd become quite commonplace since her accident in the garage. She actually felt somewhat lucky that it waited until to hit instead of on her walk to the graveyard or when she was crossing the street. She drew in a sharp breath hoping that it would restore the world to its normal rotation speed, but it did nothing. This was even worse than the Fourth of July panic attack following her accident and that one had landed her back in the hospital except this time she had been in the Psychiatric ward. She could still hear Shadow yelping, but he sound so far away instead of being practically on top of her. Toby…Toby…Toby…

"Jenna? Jenna, honey, can you hear me?" Lily's gentle voice floated around Jenna like a warm summer breeze that she just couldn't feel. She wanted to response; she wanted to keep Lily from worrying about her. She had other things, bigger things; her son was dead. "Jenna, breathe deeply and focus on me, sweetheart. Focus on my voice; pull back."

The sixteen-year-old did as her stepmother said and took deeper breaths. Lily talked a mile a minute it seemed as Jenna fought her way back to reality. It comforted to know that Lily was there, that Lily cared. Jenna never, and probably wouldn't ever, call Lily her mom. It would be weird, given her secret pervious relationship with the other woman's son, but Jenna liked to consider the hyperactive brunette her mother figure. "I'm okay now," She whispered just to stop Lily from talking her voice into submission.

"Good, Good," She mumbled as helped the dizzy Jenna into one of the high-backed stools at the kitchen island. The blind girl listened as Lily walked around to the other side of the counter and began rooting around in the cabinets. "What would like for breakfast?"

"You don't have to stay with me. It's early; you should go back to bed."

"I'm good here."

"Lily-" Jenna started, but Lily interrupted her quickly.

"Please, Jenna, let me stay with you. I can't-" Her voice broke off as her throat closed off with unshed tears. The sixteen-year-old understood too well what Lily was going to say and what she was feeling. Jenna felt those same things; she reached over as best she could and laid her hand over the top of Lily's. Her aim was bit off causing their only their pinkies to overlay, but Lily just moved her hand underneath her stepdaughter's so their hands were completely overlain.

Together in silence, the two women shared their grief. They allowed it to exist without fear of being judged because of it. But eventually, the two had to reclaim their facades of being alright so that they didn't completely lose themselves in the sorrows threatening their lives.

"I like your new charm," Lily stated as casual as she piled everything she needed to make pancakes on the island counter. "When did your secret admirer slip it to you?"

Jenna's mouth turned down in confusion. She'd had the unbloomed rose charm for months now. Lily had inquired after it about a day after Jenna felt it dangling on her wrist. The sixteen-year-old had created the secret admirer cover story shortly after receiving the bracelet. It would have looked suspicious if she'd told the truth and said Toby gave it to her. No brother and sister, she'd ever met, cared enough about each other to give presents except on Christmas.

Jenna fingered her charms with her fingers on her left hand. Rose seed, check, unbloomed rose, check. Just as she was about to retell the story of the unbloomed rose charm her finger came in contact with a third charm; a charm that had not been there the night before. Almost frantic, the brunette began tracing the gold ridges that formed the charm. It was the full-blown rose!

But, how? Toby had kept them hidden from her and it couldn't have been Lily or her dad because they didn't even know Toby was the one giving them to her. Her eyes widened as she eliminated all possibilities except one.

Toby was alive!

* * *

**A/N:** I was thinking of writing a prequel to this of Alison's POV? Or a companion peice that is Toby's POV? What do you guys think? Should I?


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